Cristiano Ronaldo in Juventus throught Spain tax rate

La Liga president Javier Tebas has said he believes Spain’s high tax rate contributed to Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Real Madrid and is preventing the league from growing.

Ronaldo left Real Madrid after nine seasons to join Italian champions Juventus in a €100 million transfer earlier this month. The top tax rate in Italy it is 46.29 percent, compared to 52 percent in Spain.

“His departure to Italy favours him because he will earn more money than here,” Tebas told Marca TV. “From an international view, in Spain we have a problem that we can’t compete from a fiscal standpoint.

“When it comes to having the same [wage] offer from Real Madrid, Ronaldo gets more net by being in Italy. That must have added when it came to him making the decision.

“In the big leagues, the worst fiscal treatment players get is in Spain. When you earn big sums of money then that small difference is already a lot of money for a player.

“We have to work on this because having this fiscal situation penalises us and prevents us from growing as a competition.”

Last month, reports said Ronaldo had reached a deal with Spanish tax authorities to serve a two-year suspended sentence and pay an €18.8m ($21.8m) fine in a tax evasion case.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ronaldo would benefit from a new law in Italy that allows tax contributors moving to the country to pay as little as €100,000 in taxes on earnings outside it.

Ronaldo, last month was named the world’s third highest-paid athlete by Forbes magazine, has a lifetime contract with Nike worth around $1 billion as well as deals with brands including Tag Heuer.

The Portugal captain also has a line of CR7-branded products as well as a chain of hotels.